


And Afterwards ...?

by alex_greene



Category: Thunderbirds, gerry anderson - Fandom
Genre: Rescue Mission, be a force for good in the world, hypnosis training academy, igor ledochowski, trance work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22851904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alex_greene/pseuds/alex_greene
Summary: "Long Reach" finally brought Jeff Tracy back to Earth, and both the Chaos Crew and The Hood found themselves in custody, having finally run out of tricks to play.So what happened next to Havoc, Jeff Tracy and The Mechanic?
Relationships: Brains/The Mechanic
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	And Afterwards ...?

'Please don't hover,' said The Mechanic to Parker, his sonorous basso profundo voice like thunder. Even with his top half obscured by FAB 1, The Mechanic's voice seemed to fill the room as though he were speaking in Parker's ear.

'I cannot 'elp it,' said Parker. 'FAB One's my pride and joy, and I h'always worry when she's h'off 'er peak.'

'Yes,' rumbled The Mechanic. 'I can understand that. I love my machines, too.' There was a clunk, followed by some ratcheting sounds.

The Mechanic slid out from underneath FAB 1, his face and body smeared with oil stains, and fixed his gaze on Parker. 'All done. Try her now.'

Parker climbed into the driver's seat and fired up the motor. FAB One purred to life. Relief spread across the old butler's face.

'You 'ave no h'idea 'how much I owe you for this,' Parker said, powering the car down. 'I could 'ear the old girl struggling, that last time we took 'er under lookin' for the Chaos Crew.'

'Hmph,' The Mechanic said, his body language and tone of voice dismissive. 'All their efforts to make noise, and for what? The lion does not turn around when the small dog barks.'

Behind The Mechanic, Parker could hear Sherbet growl. He watched. The Mechanic did not turn around.

The Mechanic looked down as the tiny pug came forward and sniffed at his ankle. 'I did wonder where you were,' he said to Sherbet. 'It could have been dangerous for you underneath the car while I was working, you know.'

Sherbet looked up at The Mechanic and barked. The Mechanic gently picked up Sherbet in his arms. Sherbet licked The Mechanic's face.

'Careful,' The Mechanic said, in a surprisingly quiet tone. 'I still have oil on my face. You might not like the taste.'

Sherbet wagged his tail anyway.

'Sherbet's h'always been a good judge of character,' Parker said.

The Mechanic handed Sherbet back to Parker. 'Look after him,' he said.

'I will,' Parker replied.

The Mechanic chuckled. 'I was talking to the dog.'

Sherbet barked.

*

Elsewhere on the island.

'Any news on The Hood?' asked Jeff Tracy.

A floating hologram of John appeared in the central sunken area. 'Nothing so far,' he said. 'I think he went kind of quiet when the jury found him guilty of his first charge.'

'When was that?'

'Two hours ago,' John replied. 'It took them almost an hour to read through every single charge. Guilty all the way down. The repetition almost had them in a trance.'

'They ought to watch out for that,' Jeff said. 'Hood was always a bit hypnotic.'

'Don't worry about that,' John replied. 'Eos was watching, and she can't be tranced.'

'You'll have to tell me more about her some time,' Jeff said. 'I've got so much to catch up on.'

'I'll bring you up here on our next supply run,' John said. 'You can see how we've kept things up here.'

'Sounds good to me,' Jeff said, looking at his desk. 'Feels so good to be back here. I keep having to pinch myself, make sure I'm not just dreaming, and that this is the real deal. I am really home.'

'Yes, you are,' John replied. 'Anything new about Hood, and I'll let you know.'

'It ought to be plain sailing,' Jeff said. 'His old criminal empire is being taken apart as we speak, by the GDF and Kayo.'

'Speaking of,' John said, 'we've finally received word from her. She and Havoc just started Havoc's latest therapy session.'

*

'Please, sit,' Kayo said to Havoc, as Havoc entered the room.

The windowless room was well-lit. There were just two chairs and a table in the centre, the walls were white, the light was so bright, and the table was bolted to the floor. The GDF guard unchained Havoc, and sat her down facing Kayo.

'Good morning, Havoc,' said Kayo. 'Before we begin, do you know why you are here?'

Havoc's demeanour was as ugly, snarling and defiant as ever. 'I dunno,' she said. 'Why don't you tell me?'

'I'd rather hear it in your own words,' Kayo replied.

'That's what you always say,' Havoc spat. 'And my answer's the same as always. I'm here because I got caught. There. What do I win?'

'It's more than that,' Kayo said, sitting back and crossing her legs. 'You got caught, yes, but how and by who?'

'Are you thick or something?' Havoc snarled. 'By International Rescue!'

'Close,' Kayo said. 'Want to try for something more specific?'

Havoc grimaced. 'By The Mechanic ... and the GDF.' Defiance shone in her eyes. 'And I bet you're going to ask me how I feel about that. How do you /think/ I'm supposed to be feeling?'

Kayo smiled. 'Who needs to ask that question, when we both already know the answer to that one?'

'Aargh,' Havoc screamed, thumping the table. 'Why am I here, right now, in this room? You've got me! What more do you want from me?'

'Tell me what your purpose was,' Kayo asked.

Havoc sat back, momentarily stunned. 'What did you just say?'

'What was your purpose,' Kayo asked. 'In that way?' she added, after a pause.

Havoc looked confused. 'I ... I don't know,' she replied.

'What are you to Hood?' Kayo asked.

'Huh?'

Kayo leaned forwards, as Havoc shook her head in confusion. 'What was your purpose, to him, at that time?'

Havoc's confusion grew. 'I was ...'

Kayo nodded. 'Go on,' she said.

*

'Have you finished your repairs?' Jeff asked, as The Mechanic came up to his desk.

'I have,' The Mechanic replied. 'Brains' lab is back the way he wanted it. He's asked me to keep one or two modifications I made, because they run more efficiently than anything he could come up with.'

'Sounds good,' Jeff said. 'The boys briefed me on what happened. Hood had you pretty much controlled, didn't he?'

'Yes,' The Mechanic replied. 'Much to my everlasting shame.' He tapped the side of his head. 'He used a control interface. Hijacked my mind and body. There are so many things I built that he used to commit his crimes.'

'I understand that,' Jeff replied. 'But if you look back, you can see that nobody was injured or killed by your toys, were they?'

'No,' The Mechanic said. 'But they caused so much destruction ...'

Jeff got up from behind the desk and touched The Mechanic's arm. 'It's like I told my boys, and Kayo. Machinery, buildings and things can always be replaced. People cannot.' He squeezed The Mechanic's rock-hard biceps. 'You cannot.'

'I thank you,' The Mechanic said. 'Nevertheless, I still feel guilty.'

'I'm not surprised,' Jeff said, sitting back, steepling his fingers. 'I'd ask you what you should feel guilty about, and dismiss your misgivings, but the truth is that you weren't a failure back when you built the first T-drive, and you weren't a failure when you built the one that rescued me.'

'That's true,' The Mechanic said. 'It still puzzles me why he cared.'

Jeff smiled. 'Who, Brains?'

The Mechanic nodded, looking around him, in case Brains had sneaked up. Other than he and Jeff, the room was empty.

'On our way down,' Jeff said, 'Brains actually told me the reason why. Did he tell you?'

The Mechanic shook his head.

'He told me that he holds many things to be true,' Jeff said. 'The Periodic Table of the Elements; mathematics; Newton's Laws of Motion; Arthur C Clarke's Three Laws; and that only an engineer can truly understand another engineer.'

The Mechanic gazed at Jeff, a blush beginning to creep across his face. 'You mean ...'

'He saved you,' Jeff said, 'because he'd already made up his mind about you.'

'And what was his verdict about me?'

'You can ask him yourself,' Jeff said, 'but ... he said how much he adores -'

The blush deepened across The Mechanic's face.

Jeff grinned. '- your design aesthetic,' he said, finishing his sentence. 'He is fascinated by your adherence to good engineering practice, the compactness and tightness of your coding, the simplicity of your interface design.' Jeff chuckled. 'I think he's a little bit in love with your engineering approach.'

The Mechanic blushed deeply. 'For a moment, I thought he was in love with something else.'

'If he was,' Jeff said, 'I'm sure he'd say it. And knowing him, he'd say it to your face. No beating about the bush. Just straight out with it.'

'After a lot of stammering,' The Mechanic said.

Jeff smiled. 'Only when his emotions are high,' he said. 'Ten years I've been gone, but he's not changed that much.'

*

'You're confusing me,' said Havoc, her eyes glazing over at Kayo's gentle questioning.

'You tell me how you felt,' Kayo asked, 'when you had to report each failure to your boss.'

'I felt ...' Havoc said, her microexpression betraying despair for a moment.

'Tell me what he called you,' Kayo said. 'Earlier.'

'A failure,' Havoc said. 'Especially after I failed to steal Thunderbird Three.' Her face brightened. 'That was cool, wasn't it? I stole it right out from under your nose, right?'

'And how did he appreciate your gift?'

Havoc remembered how Hood had berated her throughout that escapade. Had, in fact, only ever berated her.

'You can see it,' Kayo said. 'I can see it, and you can at this point consider how you were feeling, anything but happy, and specify how you really felt.'

'I felt ... like ... I let him down,' Havoc said.

'Like that,' Kayo said, her questions probing. 'Was there any time but a time where he berates you? Who did you feel like when he'd finished screaming at you ... in that way ...' Kayo watched Havoc flinch and close her eyes. 'Exactly like that,' she added, 'and contrast with what you always wanted him to say to you.'

'I ...,' Havoc said, tears forming in her eyes. 'I ...' she repeated, burying her face in her hands.

Kayo looked at her. _Any moment now_ , she thought, _and she should be ready_.

*

'Ah, Brains,' Jeff said, as he and The Mechanic approached the kitchen area. 'There you are.'

Brains looked up from one of the knee-height cupboards. 'N- nothing here but p-plates,' he said. 'Ah, M- M- Mister Tracy,' he said. 'and M- M- M- Mechanic.'

Jeff looked at The Mechanic. 'I'll let you two talk,' he said. 'I think there's an emergency somewhere for me to look into.'

*

'He made you less than that,' Kayo said.

'Yes,' Havoc replied, her head hanging, her eyes closed.

'Absolutely nothing,' Kayo said, 'from the day he recruited you till you were separated from him.'

'Absolutely nothing,' Havoc replied, her voice hollow.

'He has yet to say anything kind to you,' Kayo said. 'Only insults.'

'Insults.'

'And during that, consider who you were, and who you wanted to be.' Another flinch from Havoc. 'And inside that,' Kayo said, and Havoc opened her mouth to gasp, but no sound came out.

'And underneath,' Kayo said, 'to when that was.' She reached out to touch Havoc's forehead. She was unresponsive. She'd crossed the threshold. She'd dropped.

Kayo sat back and gestured to the monitor. Two orderlies came in and checked Havoc over. Havoc did not respond: she was in a hypnotic trance.

*

'Try this one,' The Mechanic said, pointing towards a cupboard door.

Brains looked at The Mechanic. 'Are you sure?'

'Are you sure of where all your tools are, once you've put them away?'

'Good point,' Brains said, smiling weakly. A search of the cupboard yielded food - a couple of trays of eggs.

Brains put them onto the work surface. The Mechanic sniffed at one of them. 'Relatively fresh,' he said, his basso profundo voice sending shivers down Brains' spine like resonance waves. The Mechanic smiled. 'I loaded them up myself yesterday, following the latest delivery.'

'I must have missed that,' Brains said.

'You were busy,' The Mechanic replied. 'It was your first sleep-in since you came to Tracy Island.'

'But I've b- b- been here for m- more than a decade,' Brains said.

The Mechanic smiled. 'Exactly,' he said.

'W- w- were you watching me s- sleep?' Brains asked, his face flushing.

The Mechanic guffawed. 'Hardly,' he replied. 'Max told me.'

'Max?'

'He stood guard outside your door all night,' The Mechanic replied. 'He told me that he was not going to budge till you got up.' The Mechanic chuckled. 'He stayed there for about ten hours. Twice as long as you normally sleep.'

'And how do you know that I normally only sleep for five hours?' Brains asked.

But The Mechanic said nothing.

*

'Hood recruited you, didn't he?' Kayo asked.

'Yes,' Havoc replied. 'We were just kids.'

'And he warped you and Fuse,' Kayo said.

'Yes.'

'Turned you into terrorists,' Kayo said. 'Child soldiers, doing his bidding.'

'Trying to,' Havoc said. 'Failing.'

'Because deep down, you knew that what you wanted was different to what he wanted, was it?'

'Yes.'

'And then, what did you want?'

'To study,' Havoc said. 'To create software. To change the world.'

'What do you want now?' Kayo asked the tranced Havoc.

'To do good,' Havoc replied. 'To ... to make Hood proud of me.'

'And how are you when Hood reveals to you that he's never been proud of you, and will never be proud of you, ever?'

Havoc's head slumped even lower.

'And would you consider, any way but this, finding a happiness, any time but now?'

Havoc paused. 'Yes,' she whispered.

'And what will you be, finding that happiness, to the extent that you find acceptance, and trust?'

'Better,' Havoc replied.

'Better than this,' Kayo said. 'How do you want this?'

'Very much,' Havoc said, a tear glistening as it dropped from her eye.

'And in each step, all steps you take towards that, as you receive assurance, acceptance, trust, you want this more each time, don't you?'

'Yes.'

'That's good,' Kayo said. 'Notice that you've made so much progress today.' She touched Havoc's face. 'You should feel good today.'

'Thank you,' Havoc said. 'You know I still don't like you.'

'I know,' Kayo replied. 'There's a lot of bad blood to overcome, but you just made an important decision to begin to clear that bad blood between us. You should feel more proud and at peace,' Kayo added, 'for starting to clear the air.'

'Thank you,' Havoc said.

'The good news is, Havoc,' Kayo said, 'you can expect to enjoy a few minutes tonight, talking over the comm unit to Fuse.'

'I miss him,' Havoc said.

'I know,' Kayo replied. 'And every time I visit him, Clarence always asks about you. Know what he asks of me? He asks that I look after you, and he thinks of you as like his little sister.'

'I think of him as my little brother,' Havoc said. 'Can you look after him, too?'

'Always,' Kayo said. 'And in time, we might arrange for you to meet regularly. You've both been stripped of your toys, so there should be no trouble. But you'll both have to work hard to earn our trust to make that happen. Can you do this?'

'Yes. I will try.'

Kayo got up from the table. 'That's all I ask, Havoc.'

Havoc looked up at Kayo. 'Will you come back to talk to me again?'

'As long as it takes,' Kayo replied. 'As long as you ask me.' She touched Havoc's hand. 'As long as you need me to.'

'Thank you,' Havoc said. 'I want to come back in the room now. I'll behave.'

'That's fine,' Kayo said. 'Thank you. Return now.' She snapped her fingers.

Havoc blinked and opened her eyes. 'What did you do to me?' she asked. 'Did you hypnotise me again?'

'A little,' Kayo replied. 'Was it anything like how Hood had you?'

'No,' Havoc replied. 'He was cruel. You're ... you're different. Warmer. How do you do it?'

Kayo smiled. 'Let's just say Hood isn't the only Kyrano who knows how to hypnotise people ...'

*

'Will Kayo go easy on Havoc?' asked Jeff, at his desk.

'I think so,' Grandma replied. 'You know she's got the Kyrano gift for hypnosis.'

'I know,' Jeff replied. 'Her uncle was gifted like that, even before he got the control implant put in him. But she learned the gift from her father.'

'And from me,' Grandma said. 'And I learned from Igor Ledochowski, before his retirement.' She called up a hologram of herself receiving a diploma from a tall, smiling man in a dark suit, with greying hair and the kindest smile. 'His watchword is "always use hypnosis to be a force for good in the world," and I hope I and Kayo have continued to do him proud in that way.'

'So then, what Kayo's doing with Havoc and Fuse is, essentially ...'

'A rescue mission,' Grandma replied.

'I still have a lot to catch up with, Mom,' Jeff said to Grandma.

'I know you do,' Grandma replied, touching his hand. Footsteps alerted her. She turned around. The Mechanic and Brains were approaching them, with Max in tow, carrying trays.

'Lunch is served,' The Mechanic said. 'Eggs, mostly. Scrambled.'

'We also found the freezer unit,' Brains said. 'We helped ourselves to some ba- bacon. H- hope you d- don't m- m- mind.'

'Not at all,' Grandma said, looking at their offerings. The eggs had been arranged in almost perfect circles on the toast slices, flat and level, with precision.

'Only an engineer would make scrambled eggs and bacon look neat and tidy like that,' Grandma said, as Brains looked up at The Mechanic. The Mechanic noticed how Brains's hand was resting on his arm. He left it there, and looked at Grandma, who caught the expression in his face, and quickly deduced that The Mechanic had chosen to stay with them.

Specifically, with Brains.

They set the table. 'I hope there won't be an emergency,' The Mechanic said, as they began to tuck into their food.

'John can handle it,' Jeff said. He looked at The Mechanic. 'You know that technically, you're going to become the richest man in the Universe.'

'The richest prisoner, you mean,' The Mechanic said.

'I talked with Lady Penelope,' Grandma said. 'She and Colonel Casey have pulled a few strings, and had all your convictions quashed. You were only on The Hex so you'd be out of range of The Hood's control anyway, and now he's in custody and his link to you's been severed permanently, you need never have to lock yourself away in a cell again.'

'Yeah,' Jeff said. 'Hood and his Chaos Crew have finally run out of tricks, and run out of luck.'

'Between the T- T-Drive,' Brains said, 'and your p- proposed miniature Centurium-21 reactor, you're g- going to revolutionise space travel, forever.' He touched The Mechanic's hand. 'W- we'll b- be reaching out to the s- stars, thanks to you.'

'And you,' The Mechanic said. 'You do know that you're also going to be needed more than ever.' He glanced up at the ceiling. 'The Zero-XL was just the start. Once humanity gets the T-Drive and goes out there to colonise the stars, we're going to need a new, advance Thunderbird fleet out there, ready to help them whenever there's an emergency.'

'More fireball XLs,' Brains said.

'You know, I like the sound of that,' Jeff said, sitting forwards. 'Tell me more.'

**Author's Note:**

> This AU episode takes place after the series finale of Thunderbirds Are Go (2015), "Long Reach Parts 1 and 2," which wrapped up the whole series and tied up a load of loose threads.
> 
> But not all of them.
> 
> This one-off explores what followed after that climactic two-part episode.
> 
> As with my other Thunderbirds fic, there's relationships, but you can take those ships any way you like - friendship, extended family, even romance. You see into them what you see in them.


End file.
